Wild and Free (The Three #3)(84)

“Jesus Christ,” he snarled and felt Delilah’s hand curl around his thigh.

“Yes, terrible, if it happened that way. Tragic,” Gregor said. “But if we can trace this, we may be able to trace whoever found you and Delilah in Serpentine Bay.”

“And who scarred me,” Abel added.

“Sorry?” Gregor asked.

“Who scarred me, seein’ as I don’t scar either. But some bitch in a roadhouse in Texas slipped me a mickey, somethin’ else that doesn’t work on me, ’cept hers did. Then she used some weird-ass knife to carve into my face. She was goin’ for my heart, but I passed out. She didn’t finish me off, and considering what that knife did to my face, that would have finished me off.”

Gregor looked to Lucien, so Abel looked to Lucien and saw his jaw get hard.

“Did she…” Leah began, then paused before asking, “get cold feet or something?”

“No, he was saved by somebody,” Delilah answered.

“What’s got you tweaked?” Abel cut in, asking this to Lucien.

Lucien looked his way, then replied, “Witches.”

“Oh shit,” Delilah muttered. “More supernaturals. Fabulous.”

“There are witches?” Sonia asked, surprising Abel. Then again, she was new to this supernatural business too.

“Yes, baby doll, and some have power, but not much,” Callum answered. “I never mentioned them, because, by not much power, I mean they’re no longer of consequence.”

“Those who held long lines of power, and thus were very strong, were annihilated centuries ago,” Gregor explained.

“By who?” Leah asked.

Gregor shifted in his seat, suddenly looking uncomfortable, his eyes going to Lucien.

So everyone’s eyes went to Lucien.

“Unfortunately,” he began, “I’ve learned only recently, as I’ve also learned only recently that true magic exists on this earth, it was vampires.”

“Perhaps not one of our more shining moments,” Gregor murmured.

“You think?” Delilah asked sarcastically. “Now they’ve gotta be pissed too, pissed enough to roofie a vampire werewolf and carve into his face when they meet one at the local roadhouse!”

Her voice was rising so Abel pulled her hand from his thigh, curved his around it, and dropped it back, holding it there.

She took in a calming breath.

“Or, perhaps she was sent on a mission to take care of one of The Three,” Gregor said in a carefully even voice.

Watching Gregor, Abel knew he, too, was tweaked.

Abel broke it down. “So what you’re sayin’ is, vampires knocked off all these witches, the witches who remained are probably seriously shitty about that, so they’re probably workin’ for the dark side.”

“This could be,” Gregor allowed.

“Great,” Delilah muttered.

“And they came after me, which means they know of The Prophesies,” Abel kept at him.

“Oh, they know about The Prophesies. The witches have seers among them, even now. We may have kept The Prophesies secret, but as witches have that power, they’ve known about them for centuries,” Gregor confirmed. “But we have yet to discover if they knew who you were.”

“Why did vampires kill off all the witches?” Leah asked, and Gregor looked to her.

“There was a bit of a power struggle.”

“I’ll say,” she muttered.

“It was a different time,” Gregor murmured his lame explanation.

“It was f*cked up,” Lucien put in.

“You will remember when I shared with you our history with witches that I did not support The Dominion’s decision,” Gregor reminded him.

“You didn’t,” Lucien returned. “But you enforced it.”

“It was my duty,” Gregor shot back, beginning to sound impatient. “And I’m sure I don’t need to remind you that when Callum’s father…and I, I’ll add…finally talked members of The Dominion into seeing sense, those vampires who’d championed that unfortunate situation were dealt with harshly.”

“After hundreds of years of persecution and thousands of witches extinguished, executions that were quick and for the most part painless was hardly a proper punishment, as the lasting chasm between vampires and witches will attest,” Lucien retorted.

Whoa, the supernaturals certainly had a dark and checkered past.

I gave big eyes to Leah, who gave them back to me.

“Enough,” Callum cut in. “It’s been done for hundreds of years. There’s no undoing it.” He looked to Abel and changed the subject. “Who saved you? Any clue?”

“I was passed out, man, so I have no idea.”

The door opened while he was answering and Yuri walked in, eyes to his father, his face strange.

“A word,” he called.

“Yuri,” Gregor began, “we finally have The Three assembled and—”

“A word, Father.” His eyes shifted to Abel, something Abel didn’t like much, then they went back to his father. “It’s urgent.”

Gregor sighed, threw his napkin on the table, and pushed away, murmuring, “One moment.”